The start of the new year is usually marked with setting up new year resolutions. However, 2021 is supposed to be a little bit different from the past years. The reason for that is 2020 that represented us with a full range of challenges. This experience is advantageous when entering a new decade that isn’t going to stop introducing climate and digital changes, and more others. That’s why it’s better to pay attention to leadership practices instead of common resolutions. You will see how these practices will become a part of your everyday life, making you more flexible and agile. People who used these practices weren’t shocked by the passing year as those who were not prepared. They say that they didn’t feel that year to be a struggle. Instead, they could take it as a new challenge that would only bring new knowledge and experience. Moreover, they used all those suffers and endures as a source of inspiration and motivation.
2020 was that period that, probably, none of us expected to face. Interestingly, due to its unique features, it brought more lessons than any other year could bring. People try to answer ten questions to determine whether they were quick-thinking, agile, and ready to learn new in 2020. They reflect your behavior in different accidents that you faced in the harshest period of that year. Although we are not sure now that in 2021 humanity will be able to put up the end to the pandemic, we must admit that we get used to these new rules, and, hopefully, this year, people are supposed to be vaccinated.
The biggest lesson we got in 2020 taught us that not everything could be beyond our control, even during a high-developed digital era. We think we control everything like in agario. That’s why we don’t start doing what we planned. As a result, we forget to start it because we are not ready that tomorrow it would be impossible to be done. These practices are not about specific goals. They will improve you in many general different ways. So, take a look at these six leadership practices based on the book “Wired of Disruption” by Henna Inam. If you feel that you use your full prospects with these methods, try to add some new based on your experience.
As it was mentioned, each practice requires asking and answering questions. CEO executive coach Marshall Goldsmith introduced this technique. It will help you to notice every point of your everyday activities, whether they are useful for your goals or not. It is better to use this method with the help of somebody else. Together with another person, it might be your friend. It would be best if you rated yourself on each of your questions on a scale of one to ten. It is better to record the results.
Finally, here we go to the practices that will help you stay resilient when something doesn’t go according to your plans.
Table of Contents
1. Take care of your health.
Your leadership features are connected to your general well-being. According to research by Dr. Richard Boyatzis, our personal qualities such as flexibility, creativity, and responsibility, develop psychological conditions that help to shift to the parasympathetic (rest and relax) nervous system. This affects not only your skills but as well it impacts people that take you as their leader. There is no special secret on how to keep our bodies healthy. The recommendations are well-known – eat healthy food, do exercises, and sleep well.
2. Other people also pay a lot of effort into achieving the result.
Relationships inside teams are not just empty words. A lot of research on this topic found out that teams’ productivity, where leaders keep mental safety, is approximately eight-ten times higher. To achieve the best results, we must appreciate the efforts of other members. It’s also vital for the performance in a long-term distance. If you want to learn more about this, I recommend you look through Dr. Kristin Neff’s work.
3. Look for a stated aim.
What was very important during the pandemic is finding any sense in doing something. You must be aware of what you’re doing and for what you’re doing it. If something doesn’t mean to you, it will be hard to pay your efforts for that. Moreover, according to Kevin Delaney, our lives have more than one aim and purpose. That is why it’s vital to find the most important and meaningful things that can lead us to success. It helps to focus on individual assignments and not to devote our efforts and time to what will not bring what we need.
4. If you don’t want to stop progressing, write your aims down.
Considering the importance of being focused, we admit that it’s better to write your goals down. If you have a list with the top priorities, you will see that you will waste less time. Actually, a vast majority of scientific works and social researches show the same results. Bruce Broussard writes this kind of list every morning after having exercised.
5. Be curious.
Being a good leader means being agile. However, it’s impossible to be quick-thinking if your brain doesn’t have the source for thinking. Simply speaking, don’t be lazy and inert, instead develop and improve your curiosity. It will teach you a lot. If you have times of disruption, this feature will help you look at different sides of one problem finding the best way of solving it. Except for that, you will feel that you can predict something not to be taken back by unexpected troubles. The solutions will just come to your mind because being curious means you thought about different situations, so you’ve already prepared the way out.
6. Don’t stop practicing.
If you want to improve yourself, you, probably, the kind of person who wants to develop the best character that they ever notice in somebody else. All these features are usually positive ones. Such determination of finding new qualities in yourself is useful. Practicing being honest and brave, for example, will, finally, introduce the ability to keep that patterns for every occasion.
The most important question you must ask yourself is, “did I do my best”. Remember, you are not a robot, and nobody can show the best performance always. That’s why don’t be disappointed too much when something goes wrong. Consequently, you will transform into the best version of yourself. Don’t be afraid of being failed, and try to find good moments in your performance because leaders are those people who build the way toward success despite all pitfalls. Good luck in 2021!